Things Were Going so Well.....

[Clarkbug]

So Im pretty happy with the Varm so far, its worked out really well for me. A few weeks back I had made a tweak to the air inlet after cleaning it out, and it was really starting to cruise. I was pretty confident I would have enough wood to last the winter, and it was nice to get the heat into and out of the storage that I was looking for.

Then the unfortunate happened.

Wet wood.

I was a little bit leery of my wood supply (which I am keeping in my basement), since I would get an occasional stick that would sizzle on me. But that problem seemed to be past, until recently. My house sits on an old stacked stone foundation, and I changed rows, so now Im on the one that sits up against the wall. It didnt even occur to me that there could be a problem, but there is. It seems like the wood against the stone has sucked up some additional moisture, or at least never got rid of any that was remaining when I put it in the basement.

Now Im not really sure how long Ill get for a burn, or how much wood I need to load to top out my tanks.. Its a little frustrating.

The good news is that Im already well on my way for the future wood supply ( I had to buy "seasoned" this year), and I intend to take care of any potential moisture issues in the basement ahead of time. But in the meantime its a real bummer.

 

[bpirger]

So how's the humidity in the basement itself? With stacked field stone, I'd think it would be somewhat damp inherently. Are the stones fairly well mortared? Heck, I had an old field stone foundation, dirt floor, and the water table would rise up inside every spring....that's what you get for living in a gravel valley floor 100' from the creek....

Perhaps there's a better place to dry? Just a thought.....

 

[Clarkbug]

The humidity is fairly high down there in the summer. This year we ran a dehumidifier, and this coming summer we will have enough actual windows with screens that I can run fans on one end to keep air moving enough to keep the humidity down. The part of the basement where I have my wood is fairly dry, except for the wall itself. A concrete floor has been poured, so unless the sump pumps fail, no water floods in.

The wood itself dries outside, it just got moved indoors before the heating season. Unfortunately given the layout of my house, boiler room, and property, there really isnt a better place for it. But thats just one of those lessons learned I suppose.

 

[velvetfoot]

Could you run the dehumidifier now to dry it out?

 

[timberr]

If the boiler is running isn't the humidity on the low side in the basement? If so you may just need a fan blowing on the wood, it has worked in the past for me in my basement. Obviously you will need to get it away from the wall.

 

[Clarkbug]

Boiler is on the opposite side of the basement, and has a pretty low skin loss, so not much heat is getting to where the wood pile is. For next year Ill line the walls with pallets first to make a good spacer to allow for airflow without direct contact.

I think Ill set up a fan to blow on the pile just in case. I havent been running the dehumidifer since the basement itself isnt too damp, its just right up against the wall. Parts of the basement are due to be re-pointed, so I know thats not helping. Its on my extensive "to do" list.

 

[maple1]

I hit a seam of wet wood in my pile this winter. I think it spent considerable time in a flooded area after it was cut & split, and never got quite dry. Was particularly wet right under the bark.

Anyway. I have a small electric splitter in my basement next to my wood pile. I re-split it in bunches, quite small, re-piled, and set a big slow moving box fan against the re-split stuff blowing out. It took surprisingly little time to dry. Just getting the (drier winter) air moving around it improved things greatly. It only took a couple of days to get it to the point where it burned good, and only took an hour or so to re-split & re-pile a few days worth.

Good to hear your Varm is working good though!

 

[Clarkbug]

I just need to find my fan it sounds like... Ill have to see where that went, probably up in storage somewhere.

Varm is working great, I like the simplicity. Push the button, fan starts. Add wood, it makes fire. Burns till the fire goes out, and its ready to go for the next time you need it. Easy to clean, so I do it once a week. Get lots of fly ash in the tubes, but nothing that doesnt sweep out easy.

 

[KenLockett]

clarkbug,

The last cord I bought was all white ash and anywhere from 20% to 35% MC. I have approximately space for 0.7 Cord of wood storage in my basement where the boiler is located. I made relatively small splits (i.e. 2-6" diameter) with my electric splitter in the basement then stacked in cubby storage area. I then put a three speed fan on it blowing the stack from the bottom on medium speed with the air being drawn from the vicinity of the stack pipe and within 2-4 days all the the wood was reading anywhere from 10-20% for the most part with my moisture meter. After 4 days I removed the fan and now two weeks later the content is generally 15% or less on all the wood. As a second test I took a fresh split of beech (albeit not too large) that read around 33% when split and put it immediately in front of the fan and 3 days later the MC was less than 20%. Using a fan definitely works.

kenlockett

 

[Singed Eyebrows]

I just need to find my fan it sounds like... Ill have to see where that went, probably up in storage somewhere.

Varm is working great, I like the simplicity. Push the button, fan starts. Add wood, it makes fire. Burns till the fire goes out, and its ready to go for the next time you need it. Easy to clean, so I do it once a week. Get lots of fly ash in the tubes, but nothing that doesnt sweep out easy.

Try putting wood right by or against the boiler. Even though it feels like there is very little heat there it might surprise you. This is free heat, about the most electric power I care to use is for the 50 watt inducer & 50 watt Laddomat, Randy